U.S. - CAFTA-DR Free Trade Agreement
Intellectual Property Rights Provisions
Under the CAFTA-DR, U.S. producers of creative material and innovative products benefit from higher standards for protecting intellectual property rights such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets and enhanced means for enforcing those rights. The CAFTA-DR reinforces national efforts to strengthen IP laws and enforcement and supports the growth of trade in valuable digital and other intellectual property-based products.
CAFTA-DR provides for improved standards for the protection and enforcement of a broad range of intellectual property rights, which are consistent with U.S. standards of protection and enforcement and with emerging international standards. Such improvements include state-of-the-art protections for digital products such as U.S. software, music, text and videos; stronger protection for U.S. patents and trademarks, including an electronic system for the registration and maintenance of trademarks; and further deterrence of piracy and counterfeiting. The CAFTA-DR also requires protection of undisclosed test data submitted for the purpose of product marketing approval of pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products against disclosure and unfair commercial use.
Enforcement remains a concern in the CAFTA-DR countries. As the economies of Central America and Dominican Republic strengthen, governments will have additional resources to face the challenges due to the lack of personnel and expertise necessary to wage a more effective campaign against copyright and other IP violations. In addition, the regional integration that the CAFTA-DR promotes and CAFTA-DR provisions on Customs Administration should help CAFTA-DR Customs authorities to become more efficient and transparent. This will decrease opportunities for corruption and free up resources that could be used to improve border measures to keep pirated materials out of the CAFTA-DR region.
Key Intellectual Property Provisions
State of the art protection for U.S. trademarks:
Procedures for registering and maintaining trademarks as well as resolving disputes should become more efficient and transparent and less subject to abuse. This will make trademark protection more accessible to small businesses interested in the CAFTA-DR marketplace.
Protection for copyrighted works:
Copyright-based industries are among the fastest growing and most productive of any sector of the U.S. economy. They employ new workers in higher-paying jobs at over three times the rate of the rest of the economy; create new revenue at over two times that rate; and contribute close to $90 billion to the economy through foreign sales and exports. The industries’ principal barrier to trade is the lack of effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property.
Stronger protections for patents & trade secrets:
Innovation has historically been a driving force in U.S. industry. Competitive advantage based on innovation needs to be protected and defended. U.S. companies need access to legal tools in all markets across the globe.
Tough Penalties for piracy and counterfeiting.
The high level of enforcement required by the Agreement will benefit industry and set a precedent throughout the region.